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Land map - Fantasy

Hello - the map is for a Fantasy series - Mage in Time - in the Tales of Chance the Mage books. The only drawback I can think of is that the pieces of land quilted together are from other people's images. The Photoshop trap. I think it has all the basics.
Regards,
GaryAttachment 56044

I think this map suffers from several issues. The labeling is not really convincing, the strong outlines don't really work IMO (the font itself is a matter of taste, I guess).
The bigger problem, however, is that you have regions on the map which are very blurred and are in stark contrast to others that are rather crisp - this should be revised completely.
The way how the rivers flow into the sea/bay? isn't too pretty, either.

The map as it is now looks like a patchwork - quick made without any eye for details.

I won't really comment on the map since I have not really done one to the end.
But there is one thing you said about using others images. Just make sure you have the right to use them, especially if it's for commercial purposes. You will avoid potential problems and it's more honest that way.

Some of you textures have high detail while other are stretched and that dosen't blend well. In general, you need some transition between the different zone too.
As for the font, the color bothers me. Red is not a good choice and the other colors, well it depend. You need to improve the consistency there too.

Good points - thank you. I agree - red is a last choice - but I opted for it because I wanted the places where castles / holds are located to stand out. The map is tied to a series of episodes so it is almost 'quick reference' for a reader. With such a type of map, I combine over-emphasis layered on landsat images. In those, changes of ground type is sometimes abrupt and sometimes a blending. I am only just learning that. The style of this map is 'Get across what is where and located where from what - where is the action.'

Thank you for the reference urls - many thanks. I've done some wandering through the maps on this site. Keeping in mind that maps are linked to some story - the various styles are very interesting. The styles are very expressive of the mood of a story.

Stretched vs high detail - I need to be more careful on that. In photoshop, it can become a massive file. And it has to loadable to a website. But, you are correct on that.